{"id":2633,"date":"2009-08-28T07:37:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-28T07:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/hr-advice\/career-fair-preparation\/"},"modified":"2019-10-19T08:09:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-19T15:09:20","slug":"career-fair-preparation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/career-fair-preparation\/","title":{"rendered":"Career Fair Preparation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-4775\" style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Career_Fair_Preparation.jpg\" alt=\"Career_Fair_Preparation\" width=\"216\" height=\"141\" \/> Career-fair planning should begin a few months before the exhibition dates and summer is a great time for you to get organized\u2014recruiters should ensure all display equipment is in working order, marketing materials are ordered, and a publicity strategy is in place.<\/p>\n<p>The following is a collection of best practices we&#8217;ve come up with that can help you get your career event planning underway:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Research the career fairs before registering to get a good idea of who (exhibitors\u00a0 and spectators) will be attending and what materials you will need for effectively reaching candidates: Is it a general fair for entry-level, college <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/hire-a-student-tips-to-help-you-hire-a-student\/\">student positions<\/a> or a specialized fair that will attract skilled professionals?<\/li>\n<li>Aim to secure a booth facing the main entrance (or as close as possible) of the fair for attracting the highest volume of traffic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Read the exhibitor manuals so you know what the fair will and will not provide you (e.g., power, tables, chairs, Internet connection, food, water).<\/li>\n<li>Review the floor plan to assess who will be your neighbours and if you will have any space restrictions.<\/li>\n<li>Practice setting up your booth six to eight weeks prior to the event to ensure you have all the display elements and that they are in working order; remember, it can take four or more weeks to produce new banners or other display elements.<\/li>\n<li>Strategize what marketing materials and give-away items (\u201cswag\u201d) to provide; don\u2019t just bring whatever you have in the stock room, it\u2019s important the brochures and other information you provide speaks to your audience\u2014targeted messaging says that you mean business.<\/li>\n<li>Get the word out:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Set up a recruitment microsite specifically for upcoming career fairs and direct interested candidates to the site. This will enable you to capture metrics directly related to career fair participation.<\/p>\n<p>Include information on your career fair attendance in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/recruitment-advertising-media-options\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recruitment ads<\/a> and job postings.<\/p>\n<p>Publish small teaser ads in media where the fair is being advertised.<\/p>\n<p>Put a banner announcement on your website.<\/p>\n<p>Create a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Midlyn-Day-Communications-Inc\/123703280539\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a> page to invite attendees and post future career fair events.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a Twitter account, send out Tweets about upcoming fairs.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ll be present at a big national recruitment event, consider outdoor advertising (e.g., billboards or guerilla marketing) in the vicinity of the event leading up to and during the exhibition.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set measurable goals of how many visitors you expect to your booth and how many applications you wish to receive onsite and after the event.<\/li>\n<li>Offer prizes to recruiters who generate the highest number of applicants (e.g., recruiters who generate more than eight applications during the fair receive a gift certificate).<\/li>\n<li>Ensure transportation is arranged for all the career fair team members and that they know where to park for unloading the exhibit on set-up day.<\/li>\n<li>Plan fun role-playing games for senior recruiters to train junior recruiters on what types of questions and scenarios to expect at the fairs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Related to Career Fair Preparation:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/recruitment-advertising-media-options\/\">Recruitment Advertising Media Options<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/hire-a-student-tips-to-help-you-hire-a-student\/\">Hire a Student<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Career-fair planning should begin a few months before the exhibition dates and summer is a great time for you to get organized\u0097recruiters should ensure all display equipment is in working order, marketing materials are ordered, and a publicity strategy is in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[43,113,121],"class_list":["post-2633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recruiting-advice","tag-recruiting","tag-recruiting-advice","tag-recruitment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2633"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6567,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2633\/revisions\/6567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}